Thursday, May 15, 2014

I heard from from Marti, Dora's mom, that her girl is featured in the local paper this month. Dora was one of my special fosters and one of the dogs that make rescue worthwhile. Dora was abandoned in Lakeland and ended up at the Polk death camp. She was so scared that they labeled her as dog-agressive and scheduled her for death. Hours before she was scheduled to die, Kelly Wilson saw her photo, and for some reason could not let her go. She called me and begged me to consider taking her because she had nobody for an aggressive dog. I did not want to take her because my Abby does not like females and I knew it could be difficult if she was aggressive. Reluctantly, I asked for her photo. When I saw her body language in the photo, I could tell she probably was not aggressive, just afraid. Worst case would be that she had to stay in a cage, and separated from the other dogs, but she would be alive. I took her and it turned out she had no aggression, was very sweet, friendly,
and quite the character. She house trained quickly and loved playing with my other dogs, except Abby. Marti saw her on the LAAR website, and I think it was love at first sight. Dora immediately loved her new family, including the cat, and has the best life ever. Thank you Marti and family for loving Dora and helping her be an ambassador for all the misunderstood homeless dogs. - Ronnie (foster dad)

Oh beautiful Miku!! This sweet pocket lab was sitting in animals services on death row after being brought in after someone hit her with their car. LAAR took her in and got her the care she needed, which included FHO surgery. Miku's went through physical therapy for several months, and for a long time did not really have any desire to get up and move around. Her foster family did not give up on her and eventually Miku got to where she even likes to jog with her owners!

Miku absolutely loves other dogs and now she has a home with a lovely little foster sister named Josie!

Thursday, May 8, 2014

Prince and Molly are SPOILED to death and we LOVE THEM SO MUCH! They rule the house. Molly is the sweet little cuddle-baby that she has always been and still loves to lay out in the backyard in the sun. Prince is a little wild man. He has turned the guest bedroom into his own personal room and he sits on top of the pillows on the bed and I open the window for him so he can be on “patrol” and bark at anybody going by the house. They just went with us to the Jimmy Buffett concert and this weekend we are taking them camping at Ft. Wilderness at Disney. Seriously- spoiled does not even begin to describe it!

Being the proud Mommy that I am, I am attaching pictures. Thank you again for bringing these angels into our lives!

Thursday, May 1, 2014

We adopted Athens (your name: Steel-Bowl Dog) from your organization back in August 2004 at the Florida State Fairgrounds; he was approx. 2 yo, 28 lbs. and had a host of problems including ring worm, bad bronchial infection, severely malnourished, and loss of hair. But I knew immediately when he came up and turned around and sat in my lap that this was the dog for us. My wife came later, and the event was about to close down, and he did the same to her so we decided to adopt Athens from you hoping for the best. He completely changed our lives and immediately went from 28 lbs to 48 lbs in 14 days and ended up staying at this weight the remainder of his life. He quickly regained his health and was a "tank" of dog for the 9.5 years, well trained and behaved. He went everywhere with us, including living in Tampa, FL; Frederick, MD; Portland, OR; and finally in Phoenix, AZ. He got the best of everything and he gave us back unconditional love and affection. He was stubborn and
tough at times, but I always admired how he stood up for himself. We didn't realize at the time he was a pit/staffy mix, and now after volunteering with various local rescues and having Athens all these years realize how special and unique pit and pix-mixes truly are and we would never adopt another breed. Unfortunately this week we had to put Athens to sleep after a 6-month illness (Cushings Disease and brain tumor), but just wanted your staff to know your small act of kindness of saving him from the Hillsborough County Shelter forever changed our lives. Luckily about 1.5 years ago we finally found another dog that Athens accepted, again an adult rescue pit-mix (Copper) from a local rescue group who gave him companionship in his later years (yes male-male pit mixes can get along). So your small act of kindness, seeing him with the bowl in his mouth at the shelter and deciding to give him a chance, gave us 10 years of happiness. We are going to make a donation to your
organization in the name of Athens so you can continue doing the great work you do saving dogs that deserve a second chance. Attached are some pics of this beautiful dog, first pic is of Athens at the adoption event at 28 lbs. BTW--he never lost the oral fixation (as shown holding onto the rawhide bone when we adopted him), always carried things in his mouth and could chew up any toy, including so-call indestructible toys, in less than 20 minutes. Second and third pics are him just enjoying life which he did everyday to the fullest.

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Interested in sharing your story of adoption with us? Please submit your story and photos and it will post to our blog within 24 hours or less. Your story means a lot to our volunteers and foster families. Thanks for posting!